The 36,000sq.m factory has been built by a local private enterprise at a total cost of VNĐ100 billion (US$4.5 million).

According to Trần Đăng Khoa, director of Bảo Châu Private Enterprise, the factory would produce 100,000 tonnes of woodchips annually, with a designed capacity of processing 36 tonnes per hour, during its first phase.

It would manufacture 100,000 tonnes of wood pellets in 2017 for export to the Republic of Korea (RoK), the United States and the European Union, he said.

The company has a 2,000ha raw material area to feed the factory. It has worked with the National Economics University, Bureau Veritas and the RoK-based Dongseo University and Kangwon National University to study new wood processing technologies. -- VNS